French Onion Soup

I have a pretty serious relationship going on with French Onion Soup. It’s been going on since I was about 8 years old. 

When we lived in the US when I was younger, my family and I spent a lot of time in hotels, often airport hotels. We’d be waiting to catch a flight out of Chicago, or we’d arrive at Heathrow late and have to stay the night before we spent a few weeks doing a tour of the south of England to visit family.

We were all pretty little and that last thing you want after or before a really long flight is to go out to eat so we always got room service. Room service is still probably my favourite way to eat…and I’m not sorry about it. Literally nothing better than sitting in a clean, lovely hotel room in your jammies and someone bringing you a load of food to eat in bed. And then they come and take the dishes away afterwards. It’s the dream.

So when I was younger and ordering room service, I would always order French Onion Soup. The kind where the cheese covered the entire top and sides of the bowl. Drool. 

I’d also always order chicken Caesar salad, but that’s for another day.

Since those days, if French Onion Soup is on a menu, I can’t not order it. When we went to France last year for New Years Eve, I had it four times in a five day period. It’s just too good!

My own version is made with onions and leeks, just to jazz things up, and a little crispy sage leaf on top. Coz crispy sage leaves make me do a happy dance.

It’s actually pretty easy to make. Especially on a Sunday if you’re just mooching around. Just stick this on the stove and after a little while you have soft sticky onions in a yummy broth. But let’s be honest, that’s really just the vehicle for all the bread and cheese. As you can see below, I always make an extra cheese toast for dipping. One is never enough…

Also how killer are those little Le Creuset soup bowls?! Thank you very much TK Maxx.

Give this one a go🙂

Enjoy,

Grace xx

Print Recipe

French Onion Soup

Author: gaiglesiasfernandez Cuisine: French Courses: At Home Lunch, Weekday Dinner Recipe Keys: B Budget C Cheese S Soup

Difficulty: Beginner Prep Time 10 mins Cook Time 80 mins Total Time 1 hr 30 mins

Servings: 4

Best Season: Winter

Ingredients

Servings

• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 tsp Butter
• 4 Onions
• 2 Leeks
• 3 Garlic cloves
• 1 l Vegetable stock (4.5 cups)
• 4 Slices sourdough or French bread
• 1 Bunch sage leaves (Save 4 for serving)
• 150 g Gruyere cheese, grated
• 1 tsp Salt
• 0.5 tsp Black pepper

Instructions

1. Chop onions and leeks into long thin slices. Crush the garlic.

2. Heat the butter and olive oil in a deep casserole dish over medium-low heat. Add in the garlic and sage leaves, stir to get them coated in the oil and then add in the onions and leeks. Season with the salt and pepper.

3. Turn the heat to low, put a lid on the dish slightly ajar to let some of the steam escape and leave the onions to cook for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. You don’t want the onions and leeks to get too much colour on them – they should be sweet and soft. 

4. Take the lid off and let the onions and leeks carry on cooking for another 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to stop them from sticking to the pan. Prepare the stock if you’re using a stock cube.

5. Preheat your grill and meanwhile, add the hot stock to the pot, bring everything to the boil and then turn the heat down. Let it simmer for 15 minutes.

6. While it’s simmering, toast your slices of bread under the grill for a few minutes – watch them, you don’t want them to burn. 

7. When the soup is ready, ladle it into oven-proof bowls. Top with the toast and cover with the grated gruyere cheese. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the remaining 4 sage leaves and pop them on the top of the cheese toasts.

8. Put the bowls on a tray and under the grill for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Make sure to watch it as it can burn quickly!

   And serve. Aaaaaaaah.

Keywords: delicious, homemade, soup